Badgers ranked #7 in 1st coaches poll

I hope year two turns out as good as year one under coach B. Ranked ahead of OSU!

Complete poll at bottom..

UW No. 7 in USA Today coaches' poll
Madison - As expected, the University of Wisconsin will open the 2007 college football season in the top 10 of the USA Today coaches' poll.

UW was ranked No. 7 in the coaches' pre-season poll, released this morning. That is the Badgers' second-highest pre-season ranking in the poll. Coming off consecutive Rose Bowl victories, UW was ranked No. 5 to open the 2000 season.

The 2007 Associated Press pre-season poll is set to be released Aug. 18.

Ohio State at No. 10 and Penn State at No. 18 were the only other Big Ten schools to crack the top 25.

UW's representatives at the Big Ten pre-season meetings earlier this week in Chicago were asked repeatedly if they felt the Badgers deserved to be ranked in the top 10 nationally and if they should be included in the discussion of national title contenders.

Senior wide receiver Luke Swan echoed what coach Bret Bielema has been saying throughout the summer:

Fretting over the national polls is a waste of energy.

"You can't too wrapped up in all that attention," Swan said. "If you look at last year, we were (unranked) going into the season and we ended up a lot higher than that."

UW opened the season out of the top 25 in both polls but won 12 of 13 games, with the only loss coming at Michigan in the teams' Big Ten opener. The Badgers finished No. 5 in the USA Today poll and No. 7 in The AP poll.

"The same thing could be said about this year," Swan continued. "We're ranked high, but how realistic is that? You can't necessarily trust what the pre-season rankings say because in reality that's not what matters.

"To be able to predict the future...that's impossible. So to look at those pre-season rankings and get a lot out of them, you can't do that."

UW opens pre-season camp on Monday and opens the season on Sept. 1 against visiting Washington State. The Cougars finished 6-6 last season and last month were picked eighth in the Pacific 10 Conference pre-season poll.

Well I would bet on Donovan... but the kid, Elenridge (sp?) that transfered from K state, might get some playing time. To me, he looks to have the more natural talent, but Donovan just wants it badly from what I have heard in Madtown.

Well I would bet on Donovan... but the kid, Elenridge (sp?) that transfered from K state, might get some playing time. To me, he looks to have the more natural talent, but Donovan just wants it badly from what I have heard in Madtown.

Back to back weeks with Michigan and Ohio State will go a long way to determining if they are an elite or just very good team. They need to split and go unbeaten in other games if they are BCS material.

As much as I want them to end the year top 10, I think they will lose 1 or the BIG 2, and possibly slip in another game - leaving them in a situation comparable to last year(the best or second best non-BCS team).

Yeah they should've got a BCS bowl last season. They got screwed I think. I know that's the rule, that two teams from the same conference can't both go to a BCS bolw in the same year, but no way did Notre Dame deserve to go.